Based on the following excerpt, in what ways does the whale serve as a contextual symbol for humanity in Herman Melville’s Moby-D*ck? All that most maddens and torments; all that stirs up the lees of things; all truth with malice in it; all that cracks the sinews and cakes the brain; all the subtle demonisms of life and thought; all evil, to crazy Ahab, were visibly personified, and made practically assailable in Moby D*ck. He piled upon the whale's white hump the sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it.

A. The whale symbolizes the character’s anger about being out on the ocean.
B. The whale, described as white, symbolizes the purity of humanity’s intentions.
C. Because the whale is so evasive, it becomes a symbol of humanity’s struggle with discovering the meaning of life.
D. Because the whale is described as white, it becomes a symbol of humanity’s passion for discovering new things.